Thursday, February 28, 2008

Jack's Our Little Trouper

Jack's surgery is OVER and he came home from the children's memorial hospital today! PRAISE GOD! There were some complications, but God resolved them! Amy and Dan say he's back to his normal self, a little pale (which is normal) but just as happy and active. We're praying that this initial surgery is sufficient enough to keep him strong and healthy until he has open heart surgery for the mechanical valve when he is older.

As soon as I heard the news, it felt like I could finally breathe again, all the stress and tears were gone. God has done great this week!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

last minute change

Hey Everyone. Just a quick update on Jack and his surgery. Jack's surgery was originally scheduled for March 5th, but it has been bumped up to tomorrow morning (February 27th). Please keep him and all of us in your prayers. I'll send out word, once we find the results. Oh and his surgery is at 8:00 am tomorrow morning (Spokane time) so that will be 10:00 our time.

- Brenna

Friday, February 22, 2008

God is our Refuge

This song has been so much comfort to me this past week:

God is Our Refuge

God is our refuge and God is our strength
An ever present help, in our times of need
We will not fear, though the earth give way
The mountain fall into the sea

The Lord, Almighty is with us
The Lord, Almighty reigns
Within his arms, We will find our Rest
Our God, Our Refuge

Nations are striving, Kindgoms rise and fall
Seated in heaven, He rules over all
Be still and know, that He alone is God
He will be exalted in the earth

The Lord, Almighty is with us
The Lord, Almighty reigns
Within His arms, We will find our rest
Our God, Our Refuge

I was listening to this song yesterday while I was driving, and I started tearing up. I kept wondering why this week has been surprisingly easy. Why God chose to give me such extended grace to deal with the news of jack's heart condition and upcoming surgery (March 5th). I don't even deserve to be in his presence, let alone to experience such love from Him.
It's mind boggling. And yet it is so refreshing to know that my God loves me and that He is sovereignly in control over ever good, bad, rough or easy situation that comes in the way of His children. I'm so encouraged to see how God is actively working in my life and my family's.

I also feel so blessed to be surrounded by the amazing people in my church. THANK you for caring, thank you for praying without ceasing. Thank you for sharing our burdens as if Jack was your own nephew. I feel richly blessed to be a part of this body of Christ, and I pray and trust that God is being glorified through this situation.

So with that said, I'm greatly encouraged and I feel that even within this short amount of time, my faith has grown stronger and my love for Christ has deepened.

More updates to come, love all of you!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Isaiah 43:1-3

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have summonsed you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy one of Israel, your Savior."

updates and clarifications

My sister just informed me of some things that might better help clarify John's situation.

1. Jack was born with the murmer, and it never really went away. It was there all along, but babies are antsy little people and it can thus be hard to get a good heart beat with a stethescope.

2. It is Jack's aortic valve that is affected, not the tricuspid. So what he has is called aortic stenosis. A normal aortic valve has 3 slits to allow it to open fully. Jack only has 1 1/2, so the hole is too small.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Faithfully Leaning

I know I already have two blogs, but I felt it to be important to dedicate one to myself so that I can share struggles, or ways that i'm encouraged in life, or just simple updates. I named my blog "faithfully leaning" because I've come to realize through easy and rough times, that I need to be faithfully leaning on my Savior for comfort, wisdom, direction and everything else. So here it goes.

My nephew (john) was born with a heart murmur (september 12th 2007). It closed up, but recently re-opened. Today he went in to the doctors today for an ecocardiogram and they discovered that he also has a heart defect called "tricuspidvalvesynosis" . It's complicated, but basically his tricuspid valve (which pushes blood from the ventricle out into the bloodstream), is defected so his ventricle is enlarged and working way too hard. He's having a somewhat simple surgery in a couple weeks, where the doctor will thread a cathiter into his heart and try to open the valve if this is not succesful he'll immediately be put on heart and lung support and the doctors will have to perform open heart surgery. That's just now. When he grows up, he'll have to have open heart surgery again so that the doctors can put in a mechanical valve. He'll be on blood thinners for the rest of his life and most likely never be able to play sports. Because when someone is on blood thinners, any impact (such that sports could cause) would result in hemoragging.

For those of you that read this:
a) please pray that God would perform a miracle. I know He can, if it is His will. We need an act of God here.

b) Pray for comfort among Amy and Dan (my sister and brother in law). That God would comfort them and give them peace of mind. Also for all of us that we would trust the Lord with little john's life.

c) Financially as well. Even though they have good insurance, we all know insurance doesn't cover everything, and we also know that surgeries like this don't come cheaply. Please pray God would provide.

I know that God is faithful. And I know He is good and that He loves not only john but all of us.